Jharkhand BJP chief row: Yashwant Sinha threatens to quit LS

Miffed over the appointment of Ravindra Rai as the Jharkhand BJP president, Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha on Monday threatened to quit his Lok Sabha seat. The BJP leader expressed his displeasure at the morning meeting of BJP leaders in the Parliament House.

Ravindra Rai is known to be close to former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda and it was Munda who tilted the balance in Rai’s favour.

Munda had apparently met the BJP president Rajnath Singh few days ago and had argued that Rai being an upper caste Bhumihar will help consolidate the non tribal vote bank in the state. The other two contenders for the post were Rakesh Prasad and Raghubar Das.

It is learnt that to pacify Sinha, BJP president Rajnath Singh and Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley held talks with him. Sources said Sinha, who is considered close to senior BJP leader L K Advani, reportedly told Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and other top leaders that he may resign from his parliamentary seat if Rai is not removed and a consensus candidate chosen.

Two years ago Advani had proposed Sinha’s name for the post of Jharkhand chief minister but was over-ruled by then president Nitin Gadkari in favour of Munda.